AKPABIO, GOV EMMANUEL FIGHT DIRTY OVER 2ND TERM BID

AHEAD of the 2019 general
elections, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and a serving senator, Godswill
Akpabio, has given conditions under which he will support incumbent Governor
Udom Emmanuel’s second term ambition. Speaking at an annual gettogether
organised by the Deputy Governor, Chief Moses Ekpo, to fete the people of Ikot
Ekpene Senatorial District, Akpabio insisted that he would only support the
governor for a second term if perceived current marginalization of his
senatorial district is addressed, warning that the era of ‘carry-go’ politics
is gone and charged the governor to brace up for the big task. The Senate
minority leader, widely believed to have installed Governor Emmanuel against
all odds in 2015, said he would only endorse his re-election and rally support
for him if the policies and programmes of the administration are not
discriminatory against Ikot Ekpene geo-political zone. He lamented that some of
the projects embarked upon by his (Akpabio’s) administration including the
multi-million naira Four Points by Sheraton Hotel at Ikot Ekpene and the
dualized Uyo-Ikot-Ekpene road had been abandoned by Governor Emmanuel, noting
that the completion of the projects would form part of the recommendations for
his re-election in 2019. According to him, “2018 is less than one year to
election, all is not well, don’t allow anybody to deceive you that all is well. If the hotel in Ikot Ekpene rots after so much money had been expended on the
project, would that be a good thing? That road from Uyo to Ikot-Ekpene is still
the way it was. In the 2018 budget, what is the percentage for Ikot-Ekpene
Senatorial District?” Akpabio urged the governor to remove the wedge that
stifles development in his zone or be prepared to face the consequences of such
action in 2019. “My job is to say the truth because if at this level I cannot
say the truth, then I am not doing well. So please I want us to start the hotel
because when the Commissioner for Works addressed the youths in August, he
assured them that the hotel would be opened in December. Please let us check
the budget to know what has been earmarked for that place. I am not interested
in what I did and what I did not do, I am only interested in what I am going to
do. “The truth is that Akpabio expects us to set our path straight so that we
can take one route. Even when you are going for communion, you must be in a
state of grace, so let us have something from the senatorial district to use in
talking about election; to use in convincing the people to stand by us. We are in opposition, we don’t
have government, we don’t have police, we don’t have INEC.” However, the
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Charles Udoh, warned against
playing politics with developmental projects enunciated by the administration
since coming on board in 2015. Udoh scored the administration high in areas of
physical infrastructure, agriculture, human capital development and free
education for children up to secondary school level. He solicited for more
support for the administration as it strived to spread development projects
across the three senatorial districts. “Let us bury our political differences
and unite in love for Governor Emmanuel to build a state we will all be proud
of. Akwa Ibom belongs to all of us, the governor is poised to ensure
sustainable development for the state and the people that will outlive this
administration,” he said.